Archive for the ‘Jason Pominville’ Category

So while perusing the internets, I stumbled across two of the newest commercials from the fine folks at Dave & Adams Card World.

Sad Pommers and Sad Tyler are just too much. Also, a jpg of players holding a “sale” sign should be included with every single Darcy Regier trade proposal. How could a GM say no to a hockey player holding a for sale sign?

This one is just noteworthy because of Pominville’s barely restrained laughter and Myers exuberance at having a whole two lines to say.

This is what the Sabres have driven me to; critiquing their commercials.

1. Yay! Hockey’s back! The Sabres are safely back home in Buffalo, tuckered out & jet lagged, but victorious over the Kings & Ducks. I was pleasantly surprised by Luke Adam’s play while in Europe. He seemed to click well with Vanek and Pominville. I know Lindy likes to muck with his lines the same way someone mucks with a Rubix cube, but I hope he leaves this line alone for the time being.

2. I was pleasantly surprised that Pominville was named the Sabres new, permanent captain. I know most people were hoping for Vanek or Gaustad; but when you think about it, Pominville has that steady, dependable quality that is needed in someone that carries the leadership mantle. It’s also a big deal that the new captain (and the assorted assistants) are the guys that came up through the organization together. The last time the Sabres named a captain, they picked the new guy to the organization, just because he seemed to be the most grown-up guy in the room. Now, Pominville and the assistants are the grown-ups. It’s their job to keep the team on an even keel. It begins and ends with them, there’s no one else to pull their butts out of the fire. It’s going to be fun to watch how this group develops, that’s for sure.

And thus ends the cliche festival regarding leadership.

3. If you haven’t looked at the Sabres.com photo galleries from the Griswolds’ European Adventure, then I suggest you do. Highlights of the many galleries include:

Lindy Ruff’s BAMF-y expression while wearing a pair of sunglasses. This photo feels like it has future internet meme written all over it. (Gallery: Off the Plane & On The Way)

A Disney movie (of all things) on the in-flight movie. Someone help a girl out with what the movie is. (Gallery: Leaving Heidelburg)

Sabres working out with weights. I know every player has their own specialized workout regimen, but it’s kind of comical to see Pominville and Myers working out with the hardcore weightlifter weights while Miller & Leino are using the “lady-sized” dumbbells. (Gallery: Monday Practice at SAP Arena)

Thank you to the Sabres staffers who took these photos and worked hard on the team’s media coverage while on this trip. Your hard work is really appreciated by those of us here in the cheap seats at home.

4. The October issue of Buffalo Spree magazine focuses on the Buffalo sports scene, with articles on Ryan Miller, Pat Kaleta, Buffalo mascots, the WNY Flash, Buffalo Soccer Club and more. There is a lot of quality writing in this issue, so I do recommend that you pick up a copy. However, what was most intriguing was the article on Ryan Miller. One paragraph had two bits of info that jumped out at me. First…

Several members of the local sports media told me off the record that they admire Miller’s charity work, and that this makes it harder, at least on a subconscious level, to criticize the guy for letting in the occasional bad goal.

Oh really? The (supposedly) impartial media admits (off-the-record) that they’re soft on Miller because he’s such a good guy off the ice? If this is the case, by making this sort of statement, these media members are admitting that they would have no problem calling out Miller if he was a complete and total bastard off the ice. (On the other hand, that might explain a lot of the Timmy hate. But that’s another story for another time.)

Secondly, Miller claims that the media by trade are designed to be pot-stirrers and focus too much on one point that they know nothing about. He might have a tiny, bitterness-coated point here. And I’m not saying that just because 5 for 25 is still a local joke. How many times have some media members gone to the same well for commentary topics? However, that doesn’t mean that players have to be hostile to the media in the locker room. All the players have to do is smile & nod, answer the questions, wish the media a nice evening and then go about their business. If players are getting this out of sorts about media coverage, perhaps they should stop reading/listening/watch said coverage. It is entirely possible to watch the news and read a newspaper without hearing/seeing/reading sports stories. I work with people who prove this fact true every single day.

5. Finally, I cannot stop watching this clip of bear cubs in a hammock. Enjoy and catch you back here later in the week for the “official” home opener.

– So word broke today that Jason Pominville failed his second neuropsych test today. Ruff & Pommers claim that the failures are due to Pommer setting the bar so high when he was a rookie, that perhaps there really is no way for him to match his score. Assuming you believe what Ruff and Pommers are trying to sell, the key phrase of their argument is “when he was a rookie.” If we look at Pommer’s stats, his rookie season was 2005-06. I’m not a neurologist (nor do I play one on TV or the internet), but I would think that a person’s memory & skills do slightly change as time passes. Now, I don’t know how far off Pommers was from the pass/fail point, but it does bring up an important question. Why are players not given these neuropsych tests at the start of every training camp? It would provide the most current and up-to-date statistical measurement for each player, not to mention show if there were any trends in player decreases in scores as their careers continued. I know, I know. Who is going to foot the cost for this additional testing? The team? The player himself? The union? Your guess is as good as mine, but you would think that the league would want to make sure that they were dealing with the most accurate and up-to-date information while dealing with head injuries.

– With Rivet’s benching tonight, is it a desperate move to light a fire under the team, or a dastardly plot dreamed up by Ruff & Co to light a fire under the team?

– Any ideas on what poor unfortunate Sabre needed an emergency trip to Walgreens for a clipper to rectify a bad haircut? (Small note to the Sabres: double check Niedermayer’s first name in the opening paragraph.)

– It sounds like a very pro-Buffalo crowd in Atlanta tonight.

– Speaking of Atlanta, does anyone else watch The Real Housewives of Atlanta? If so, what did you think of this week’s baby shower episode? I’ve never seen a baby shower before that featured a ballet performance and a waltz by the mother of the baby and her BFF. As the one housewife remarked, what’s wrong with just sitting in a rocking chair, eating some cake and opening some presents?

– I do like Craig Ramsay’s attempt to festively celebrate Halloween by wearing the pumpkin colored shirt & tangerine colored tie combo. And as a bonus, it does follow a similar color theme to the sweater that Atlanta is wearing tonight.

– As the first period progresses, the Sabres have hit the net twice, but with the remainder of their shots, have managed to hit everything but the beer vendor in the section behind Mason. They’ve had shots wide, shots short, shots blocked and even just some dumb luck shots.

– I thought tonight’s intermission feature with Clint Malarchuk was well done. Kudos to the broadcast crew for straddling that fine line between emphasizing the horror of the event and showing gratuitous gore for the sake of showing see. (See: Anatomy, Greys for examples of gratuitous gore.) I did like the inclusion of Ledyard, Tucker & Andreychuk in the interview. It makes me wish that we would see players talking about happier memories of their time with the Sabres. We know Sabres alumni are usually engaging guys, the kind you’d want to sit and have a drink with and listen to. Why not let them have at it; a roundtable of 70s, 80s, 90s & 2000s alumni could be a heck of a good show to watch. And on a final note, it was great to hear Ted Darling’s soothing tones on the air again. The man had class and could call a game, that’s for sure.

– Miller gets bumped by Ladd’s stick in the crease. He immediately takes off after Ladd to get a few whaps in. The ref pulls Miller away from the fray and with some stern finger pointing remininscent of a parent scolding a recalcitrant five-year-old. Because it happens fairly infrequently on the ice, fired-up angry, violent Miller is entertaining to watch. (This is a different Miller than the unhappy, protesting Miller we saw the other night.)

– While we’re speaking of angry and cranky, you’ve no doubt noticed the glut of political ads on TV lately. And most of them do have a negative tone. However, I did stumble across this link on EW to a mockup of political TV ads from the Presidential Election of 1800. (Assuming of course that TV existed in 1800, which it clearly did not.) The best part about the whole thing is that all of the “attacks” in the ad were based off of things that they candidates actually said about their opponent. They kind of make todays ads appear tame by comparison, right?

– I’m beginning to think that “Gaustad couldn’t connect / Gautad shoots it wide” needs to be added to the Sabres drinking game. Seriously, he’s missed about 95% of the pucks that have come his way tonight. Including the one that led to the Thrashers third goal.

– I’ve never seen a player take a shot to the head like Gerbe did and bound up so quickly. I hope it’s just a small stinger and nothing too serious. It is kind of strange that the tallest person on the team was responsible for the shot that took out the smallest person on the team.

– I noticed that the wheels started to come off the Sabres wagon when Miller flipped his lid. I wonder why it is that the Sabres can’t keep their calm & composure once Miller loses his. I don’t understand it. I’m sure a psychologist would have a field day with trying to find the reason behind it.

– So Roy-Z’s last second goal in the third period brought me back to the days when goals like that were the norm. Remember those days? Where every odd bounce, wacky shot, sneeze, fart and deflection was in the Sabres favor? Yea, me too. Le sigh.

– I’m not quite hopping on the ‘Fire Them All’ bandwagon quite yet, but it’s getting to the point where watching Sabres games is downright painful. As someone wise once said, that shit ain’t right.

– For those of you playing along at home, mimicking fellatio during an NHL game is the equivalent of a nasty hit from behind that renders another player unconscious. It makes no freaking sense, but ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the NHL wheel of justice, brought to you by Colin Campbell and your friends at the home office in Toronto.

I know that Wisniewski had to be suspended or punished in some form because a non-family friendly gesture is not appreciated in sports (as hilarious as it was at the time). But I’m surprised that Hjalmarsson was only given two games. He should have been given at least three or four. I do have a feeling that if (god forbid) Pommers had been hurt worse, that the suspension would have increased exponentially. However, by stepping up to the plate and suspending Hjalmarsson, I think the NHL has attempted to avoid some of the wild, wild west mentality that might have popped up during Saturday night’s Sabres/Blackhawks rematch.

– Speaking of wild west, did anyone else notice that Kane and Kaleta were particularly snarly towards each other last night? There has to be a story there.

– Was anyone else surprised that Connolly was the first Sabre to rush to Pominville’s defense? Yeah, me too.

– I know there’s a Bucky boycott in some parts of the blogosphere, so I know not everyone is aware of his latest writings. After reading his last two columns, I have a feeling that Bucky has a satellite office in South Buffalo. Sunday rehashed the Kennedy saga for the umpteenth bajillion time. Yesterday chronicled how Kane is dealing with fame. Judging by patterns and the way things are going, his next column should focus on how the Sabres suck and they all need to be ridden out of town on a rail. Predictability, thy name is Bucky.

– Non-hockey related, but Chris March from Project Runway is getting his own reality show. I hope it’s half as entertaining as the Austin & Santino show on Lifetime. Which, by the way, if you are not watching “On the Road with Austin & Santino,” you are missing quite the adventure. These two polar opposites design an incredible outfit for an incredibly deserving lady (usually residing in the middle of nowhere America) and are exposed to the local culture. They’re just so sincere and earnest in what they do. It’s a half an hour of the warm and fuzzies. That’s really the best way to describe it.

– Anyone want to start a pool on the number of skaters that New Jersey dresses tomorrow night? Do they break the magical 15 skater mark?

– I love that the Caps goalie tonight is named Simeon. That’s not a name you see very often. It’s such a strong, biblical name. Love it.

– I cannot believe Timmy missed a wide open net within the first two minutes of the game. The shot went behind the goalie, through the crease and out the other side. But that missed opportunity sums up the season in a nutshell, doesn’t it.

– I love that Gaustad tested out his injured elbow by jumping into the arena glass. That sounds like an activity that usually involved the phrase “hey guys, watch this” and never ends well.

– C-Mac gets sent to the box for hooking. On the ensuing power play, Gaustad gets smushed by Ovie, only to continue on with the puck, like Ovie was a pestering gnat, easily brushed off. But Ovie gets his retribution when he pops a goal past a diving Miller to make the score 1-0, Washington.

– Buffalo heads to the power play as Max gets tripped up on a dipsy doodle. And said power play looks like a hot mess as the Sabres have difficulty keeping the puck in the Washington zone. And just as I’m writing that sentence, Staffy and/or Max tip the puck past the Washington goalie, shortly after the PP expires.(Correction, the goal has been credited to Goose, even though my blind eyes say he never really touched the puck. Double correction, the goal has been recredited to Stafford.)

– C-Mac tries to send a cross ice pass to Connolly, and Kozlov ends up tipping the puck into his own net. A goal’s a goal, so it’s now 2-1, Buffalo.

– One of my search terms yesterday was “hockey players are whores t-shirt.” I hate to break it to the poor dear that searched for a shirt like that, but I don’t know where to find one. And even if I did, I wouldn’t wear one.

– After the Sabres second goal,the camera pans to a kid in the stands wearing a Sabretooth hat. My mother is completely enamored of this hat and wonders why something like that didn’t exist when I was a kid.

– I may be completely hallucinating, but I swear the Caps PA system is playing the theme to the Great Escape. If I’m not hallucinating, that’s completely awesome.

Second Period

– What in the bluedilly you-know-what happened to cause Washington to have a 5-on-3? Complete stupidity by Spacek combined with an already called penalty on Roy, that’s what.

– Harry Neale starts waxing poetic about his and RJ’s tour of the White House. I kind of want to know if any of the players came along for the tour, or if it was just RJ and Harry? Touring the White House is definitely on my to-do list, as is a trip to the Smithsonian, Arlington and the Holocaust Museum.

– Another penalty to Buffalo while they’re on the five-on-three? Are you kidding me? The Sabres penalty box is getting kind of crowded, that’s for sure. It sounds like there’s quite the Buffalo fanbase in the crowd tonight, based on how loud the crowd was when Buffalo cleared the puck out of the zone. And Roy’s penalty expires with Semin putting the puck past Miller to make the score 2-2. However, before the puck went into the net, Miller was putting on quite the goaltending clinic. He had some spectactular saves.

– Sweet Crunchy on a cracker, Fedorov rips a shot from just inside the blue line past Miller to make it 3-2, Caps.

-Dear Sabres, please to not be taking anymore penalties. The penalty kill is not how you win hockey games.

– If I had a dollar for every shot the Sabres missed wide this season, I would be a very rich woman. Alright, maybe not rich, but I’d have enough for a payment on my college loans. Chez Griff isn’t cheap, you know.

– So Butler’s in the box for elbowing and the Sabres get called for ANOTHER penalty, this time for delay of game.What was it that Lindy said the other night about taking too many penalties? It throws off the flow of the game, as the penalty killers are forced to take a disproportionate amount of ice time, and the non-penalty killers are forced to sit on their duffs and wait.

– I’m wishing I had some vodka to put in my cranberry juice right about now. I can only imagine what Lindy’s thinking. These guys, however unintentionally, are stinking up the joint.

– This game diary is momentarily interrupted by a phone call from my grandfather telling me that my younger cousin has gotten engaged. The proposal happened over dinner. When my cousin brought out the cheesecake for dessert, he handed his girlfriend a knife that he had engraved with “will you marry me?” When she turned around to look at him, he was standing there with the ring in his hands. (Altogether now…awww.) So…Congratulations Andy and Caila!

– WHOO! Roy-Z ties the game at three with a nifty between the legs deflection.

– Son of a pup, Washington just scored to make it 4-3. Fedorov just lets the shot go past about five Caps and Sabres just standing there, and Miller never even saw it.

– I’ve decided that the Vitamin Water sweaters are what make the Roy, Cellino and Barnes commercials art.

– These “March to the Playoffs” spots are making me sad. Nothing like reliving past glories while watching the present go down the drail. Remind me again why I care so much?

Third Period

– Bullshit, bullshit. Max is helped into the Washington goaltender by Morrison, which negates a Sabre goal. I call bullshit.

– Again, a missed shot by the Sabres as the goalie isout of position. This time, for something different, Sekera does it on a wraparound.

– While I do enjoy Ryan Seacrest’s Twitter feed, I do not enjoy his recent pimping of Heidi Montag songs. Seacrest, I’m begging you to ignore them. If you do so, they will go away.

– Ovie flies into the net, taking out Miller. Miller responds by giving Ovie a good smack and then adjusting himself. I really like seeing Miller all feistied up.

– WHOO! Max ties the game up at 4 with a nifty shot into the wide open net. See guys, when the net is open, the pucks go in!

– Do the Caps fans have cowbells or something? I’m getting a headache from all the honking (not to be confused with HONK!ing) and bell ringing going on in the background.

– Roy-Z, what did I say earlier about staying out of the penalty box? Taking a penalty with 4:28 left in the game is a bit much, sunshine. Especially when the Caps have been so deadly on the power play tonight.

– Laugh of the night:

RJ: “I could have skated faster than Morrison. And he’s 40 years younger.”

Harry: “And a lot trimmer, too.”

Snerk.

– And we’re going to ohhhhhhvertime.

Overtime

– RJ and Harry are having a discussion about whether the Caps statement that they’ve sold out season tickets and multi-game packs for every home game next year means that there’s no tickets left for John Q. fan to buy. I could read the statement either way, but am leaning more towards the idea that the season ticket and mini-pack quota is filled and walk up seats will still be sold.

– Hecht gets into the Washington zone on a breakaway, misses the shot, gets his own rebound and instead of shooting, tries to pass to Pommers.

– Timmy steals the puck away from Fedorov, passes it to Pominville, who is in all alone. And Pommers rips it five-hole past the Washington goalie. As RJ put it, it was a heck of a time to increase the population of Pominville.

– I loved seeing how jubilant the boys were at the end of the game. This might have been the shot in the arm that they needed after the debacle the other night against Les Thrash. Tomorrow night’s game against the Devils should be exciting for sure. Here’s to hoping the Sabres ride the high from tonight through tomorrow night’s game.

Now that I’ve calmed down a bit from last night’s rampant cussing, let’s take a look at the Sabres/Sens game. I think we all probably can admit that we knew that a Sens game probably wasn’t going to end well for the Sabres, since the Sens were 4-1 against the Sabres this season heading into last night’s game. For whatever reason, they seem to know exactly how to play against the Sabres.

– According to Mike Harrington, Lindy closed the locker room for 15 minutes after last night’s game and tore his team a new one. A well deserved new one, in my humble bloggerly opinion. They blew a two goal lead against one of the leagues worst teams. Come on, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that is not how you make the playoffs. I want to see some frustration out of these guys. For too long, comments to the media have been all sunshine, kittens, puppy dogs, rainbows and the system. I want to see the kind of anger and bitterness that we saw out of Gaustad and Miller after that horrible home loss to Washington at the end of December. These guys need to be ready to kick some ass and take some names within the locker room before they can start kicking ass and taking names against their opponents.

At least the game’s positive elements included some decent play from Tellqvist in his first start in a long while and Pominville proving that he’s not yet dead (just resting), by kicking in a goal and an assist. I also liked the intermission footage of Miller skating around and having some fun with Corsi and the other goalies. I did notice that when Miller is wearing street clothes on the top and his breezers and leg pads on the bottom, it makes him look very, very, very pear shaped. It really was quite jarring. I also noticed during the interview footage with Miller that Chris Butler’s locker appears to be a folding chair stuck in front of the wall that separates two lockers? Poor guy doesn’t even have a locker stall to call his own.

– Eight consecutive penalties are not how you win hockey games. I mean, sure some of them were chintzy, borederline calls by the refs, but I do know Staffy’s retaliatory elbow against Heatley was just a boneheaded play to make (by a bonehead, no less). On the other hand, Roy got knocked around a couple of times by the Sens and they weren’t called. I have a feeling sunshine’s reputation as a diver proceeded him in this case.

– Off topic, but there’s a small part of my cold, cold heart that wanted the blind guy to sing “Jesus Take the Wheel” during last night’s Idol show focusing on the Grand Ole Opry. (I’ll just sit over here quietly at the stop for the bus to hell. Don’t mind me.) To actually talk about last night’s Idol, that seismic event you felt was Johnny Cash rolling over when he heard what Adam Lambert did with Ring of Fire. On the positive side, Kris Allen was fantastic with To Make You Feel My Love. Randy Travis was just a sweetheart while “mentoring” the contestants, but if that was his wife sitting next to him in the audience last night, oh dear. And that’s all I’ll say about that. On the negative side, Danny Gokey just needs to STFU already about the dead wife and stop with the Jesus singing and lesbian science teacher glasses.

– Congrats to Marty Brodeur for winning his 552nd career game. Check out the ESPN video for how loud the crowd’s “Marty, Marty, Marty” chants are during his interview with MSG. It’s chilling, but in a good way.

To give you an idea of how long Marty’s been around, check out this YouTube video from the Sabres/Devils series back in the mid-90s. Brodeur as a young pup versus Hasek. Good times.

Apologies for the shitty video quality.

– Another off topic, but how cool are the US baseball guys at the World Baseball Classic. Yahoo! has a great story about them inviting a wounded US soldier into the clubhouse after the win against Puerto Rico last night. Classy show guys, classy show.

It was entirely too cold in my house to even think about leaving the comfort of my warm blanket to blog during/after last night’s Sabres game. (Alright, the cold was more of an excuse to cover the “during”, and “sleep” is the excuse to cover the “after”.)

– Why did it seem like Derek Roy was the only forward out there who seemed like his give a damn wasn’t busted? Timmy would also fall a close second in this category. Both of them were extremely noticeable in a good way last night. I will also admit to being concerned every time Timmy went flying across the ice, as I envisioned him injuring himself while doing so. It’s going to take awhile before the Tim Connolly Cringe Factor calms down to normal hockey player levels.

– Let’s not even discuss the travesty that was the 6 minute power play. Six minutes and only one shot. One god damn shot (and yes I can say god damn on my blog, even if you can’t say it on the radio) in six minutes. Sheesh. A team of Timbits could have probably done better.

– Which also brings me to the debacle that was the four-on-one last night. Goose was leading the rush up the left side of the ice and can’t get the blasted pass off. I’m thinking that non-pass trumps any good that may have come from his scrappiness last night.

– I will also admit to wishing that I had my laptop open to play Pominville Bingo during Pommer’s intermission interview last night.

– At least the intermission feature on Tallinder was nice. Mrs. Tallinder and the Lil Tallinders looked absolutely adorable in the photos shown. It’s almost enough to make you ask why he almost threw that all away during his little third man in deal a couple of years ago.

– Stafford did have a nice clean check on Duncan Keith last night. About darn time the little punk hit someone. I also noticed that Chicago seemed to make it their personal mission to target Stafford after that hit. Where was the same spunk and determination out of the Sabres after Mair was cross checked into the bench on a line change? I realize Mair was giggling about it afterward, but where were his teammates to stick up for him? RJ was more incensed about it that some of the players on the ice.

– It may have been my poor eyesight, but was Miller not seated on the Sabres bench last night? Does the United Center require visiting backup goalies to be exiled to backup goalie purgatory? Based on what I read pre-game, I was half expecting Miller to pull a Marty and start trash talking from the bench.

I hope an entirely different team shows up against Dallas tonight. If not, the good people of Buffalo may revolt against this team.